April 25, 2021

When you see an image worthy of your efforts you have a choice, be stealth and move slowly toward your subject or observe the changing light and place yourself in a middle position whereby you can create your own personal, original imagery and not the cliche photos of redundancy.  

Being surrounded by potential subjects you must have patience, as you study your visual compositions beginning to change in nature’s warm light.

You have to move fast if the light begins to waver and clouds form and you have just seconds to compose your landscape and click the shutter.

Or rethink your best path to take in getting as close to the subject as possible as the light begins to spread its wings and cover your chosen subject leading your eye to a unique reflection in still water.

Photographers take a slice of reality out of the flow of time in our external, physical existence that is never stagnate but in continuous flux creating unique systems of revelations through nature’s evolution.

You must be present and aware of your surroundings in order to capture those fleeting moments others miss.

Change in seasons, change in weather, change in light, change in understanding, change in becoming more than just a photographer but an image creator that walks through the flow of your time, your possession of time by creating your unique piece of the puzzle before you, not a snap shot but a study of the scene in mother nature or on the streets of cities.

The externality of our existence is elusive, we become cattle hungry for more physical products that amount to nothing while it distracts you and the wealthy steal more of your hard earned efforts without the means to rise up and get to our unique destinations.

You have been suckered into believing that this reality has always been present when in fact it is like all externalities, created for a specific purpose and that purpose is an addiction to power over the people that work not for a god but for the godless rich seeking more and more of your money.

In photography you are a visual hunter examining the landscape before you, exploring angles of possibilities, seeking that moment when everything is flowing with unique light and the scene opens up to your inner intuition and the click of the shutter is such a positive sound and you know you have made something special.

Most photo shooters would have passed by their inner landscape ignoring the possibilities because they were not focused on the present but other worries nagging at them, their mind filled with the over powering need to find things that distract them from their true purpose, so all they want to do is click the shutter and move on without realizing that they just past up an iconic landscape, a pure revelation of mother nature.

It doesn’t take long to capture a subject in a split second, in a reality in constant flux most of us ignore and take for granted. We have more important things to do that have nothing to do with artistic talent but investments that add more cash to our off shore accounts.

That is why great photography is not only a personal means of expression but a means to capture  moments in the flow of time to be forever viewed in a reality still with wonder, questions that are in constant flux. Whereby no scene remains stagnant.

You can come and go to a favorite location to create photographs and each time you find something different, some unique subject that catches your internal vision and you can intuitively feel that if the light continues to get better you will have an image to be proud of.

Reality changes like the seasons change and we ignore the possibilities of change by taking photographs of the mundane images everyone shoots. We refuse to see the seasons as a clue for creating good images. As seasons change your image creation also changes, matures as you begin to get a feeling for the external reality of illusive stability. Our vision is in tune with the outer reality because we have adapted to a world that seems stagnate but is actually in turmoil and ready to explode with color and violent storms, and volcanic eruptions.  

To immerse yourself in the external world is the only way to dig deep into the under currents of living a photographers life rather than just taking images of  surface subjects without depth and a personal vision.

When we create images time changes, it allows us to flow into nature without fear but with a visual purpose.

Our external vision if focused properly can penetrate a different realty than our intellectual conception of it,
our intellect can be a numbing barrier between you and your inner visual senses, trying to get you back to your redundant life style that appears concrete but in your inner reality of self awareness, it is continually in flux.

Our intellect is not your ally but an instigator, a bait and switch normalcy controlling the outcome of your personal vision in seeing a landscape continually changing.

Your mind wants to keep things simple without having you begin to see and feel your power of individuality, seeking a bigger purpose in your life rather than settling for the chaos of redundancy.

Anticipation is the key to a successful image and you must be intuitively present to see the subtle changes taking place as you explore the scene before you.

Don’t be fooled by the stasis of the scene it is changing and the sunlight is moving and shadows can be good or distracting so use your intense awareness of the scene and what you want state in your image composition that allows viewers to see and feel your unique vision.

 

 April 9, 2021

Photography Blog:

Image creation is a magical experience through preparation, insight, determination and intuition.

Anything can become an amazing subject to explore and make images of.

Images just don’t happen they are made. A good photographer enters his own unique world. His/her emotions begin the search for a subject worthy of the feelings that can’t be pushed away, that can’t be ignored.

Whether they are happy or sad these feelings must be expressed and internalized through the outline of a photograph taking shape in your mind a vision forming and then externalized through the image creation.

A photograph is nothing but ones inner world being shown to the world.  We mustn’t fear our inner world being represented through great image creations.

For our truth in life is what we are attracted to in the physical world that dictates to us our emotional states. We must move past the confusions of our externalized world trying to move you closer to conformity of being present and not your visual intuition seeing a subject that represents your inner feelings and your anger at the indifference of wealth as the world crumbles in polluted air and minds.

Photography is an expression of your inner mind and no one else’s.

We must move away from the greedy eyes to your own personal vision of subjects that reflect your inner being.

As photographers we are drawn to certain subjects more than others. Your childhood world played a big part in your older consciousness wanting to return to those early years when everything was new and visually exciting.
 
In some cases your early experiences at creating art were horrendous without mercy and your inner being was crushed but through seeking an outlet for your artistic vision photography gave you confidence to explore your inner fears and create works of art by believing in yourself and your inner talent.

To see reality in its truth you must explore the past and conquer your fears by channeling the external world into a photographic structure, an image that
you make and no one else.

Your unique focused vision is your inner release, letting go of earlier times and people that tried to break you but couldn’t.

When you are in tune with the environment you have chosen to explore you must open your mind to the overwhelming possibilities that are present.

Your subconscious begins its duty of drawing you closer to your subject with little details that will eventually be the foundation of your photograph.

Focused attention leaves behind the hectic pace of everyday life and allows you these moments of calmness amongst the subjects you are drawn too.

We are not robots seeking a subjects that are redundant without a visual connection to ourselves.  

What we like or dislike external to us has been conditioned in us through parents, brothers, sisters, friends, enemies, teachers etc… We need to break through these early barriers and open ourselves to new image challenges that just might open our inner vision to new horizons.

Photographers feed off their own personal vision. We seek imagery that reflects our own unique style. We are not afraid to experiment with light, lenses, shutter speeds, filters..etc, that will give our subject that extra technique and vision that can stun the viewer with its momentous truth.

My fear nowadays is the overwhelming amount of images being taken and posted online, these images are snap shots of passing moments without a visual anchor to excite our senses.

These social media imagery degrade the photographic history of our best photographers. Now anything can be and is used in ads as if the message was anything but what the models were wearing. Every photograph taken now it seems is an ad for some product.

Photographs in todays culture of video games, self praise without self awareness, demeans photography and its original purpose to give people the ability to see the world through the eyes of a photographer giving his life so others can feel the hypocrisy of power, the hate, starvation, wars, climate change, instead of a surface reflection without depth of purpose, an imitation of ones inability to dig deeper into our earthly history and present moments.

A good photographer sometimes needs to put his blinders on and not listen to the repetitious voices of the talking heads and just move forward with their own personal projects that can shed light on the destruction of this planet by the oligarchs that now rule us all.

A good photographer nowadays need to be strong, determined and not allow voices of conformity, to
control your focused independent photography projects.

Don’t be corralled by the redundant visions of security by those that do not want to find the truth of our existence performing for the elites, doing their shallow formulas of mind control.

Keep focused on your independent photography projects.

When the subject is finally discovered and your intense visual perception of the landscape excites
your vision you flow into the dramatic scene as an observer connected through your senses on high alert as you begin to compose your image waiting making changes to your composition as the light becomes intense begins to cooperate with your intent and you feel the moment is near as the sunlight illuminates your unique perspective because you had positioned yourself where you knew the elements of nature would meet your intuitive awareness that drew you to this particular location to create great photographs. 

March 25, 2021

Social Media

Words are lies put in a sentence which look like it has a reasonable truth. But if you rely on a words surface glitter you will be betrayed because words can manipulate you into believing a false witness.

But your depth of intuition can eliminate the lies being presented if you would only listen to your inner voice.

Words can master your inner doubts. Controlling feelings without an answer that is reliable in its presentation.

No truth spoken is not truth, mouthing something from a person of power doesn’t make what that person states is true. More often than not they use words to protect their accumulated wealth on the backs of the working woman and man.

The oligarchs that now control most of the worlds population will use any means possible to defend their rights to manipulate and steal money from the people on this planet. They will not blink an eye to use propaganda to inflate their caring stature and at the same time they are busy preparing for another buying spree by giving money to our politicians for a law tailored for them to vote thumbs up on and that will give the affluent more and more insurance that their way of life, the greed and monstrosity of their shallow principles will be past down to their children and their children’s children while the human race suffers and is exploited for their inability to see the truth and to finally say enough!

Words take from you, your inner self, your beliefs, breaks you apart, dilutes your ability to remain positive under the pressure of someones critical eye. 

We are becoming a surveillance population where they know more about you than you know about yourself.

These word masters can spin anything to make it look
reliable. The truth can seem so right that ones forgets to look at the motive for those words being mouthed. False words always mean to manipulate you to believe in a someone elses greedy manipulation.

If you look closely without taking sides you will find that most of the words used in politics and social media are lies. Their words are not presented to support a cause but their to undermine a cause that could help the American people. If you mark a like to what you have just read you are opening yourself up for the propaganda machine to attract you for your vote by sending you a bait and switch con game night and day.

What is truth and what is false? This living with constant distractions that are purposely posted on news channels. I would hardly call them news worthy, when was the last time any news organization did a report of the wars raging all over this planet, fires burning out of control, people leaving their homes because of climate change, people migrating out of corrupt countries and social media hampering your ability to think independently. You are allowing some other entity to determine your future through a false narrative. Corrupting your ability to see the underlying currents of media’s underhanded manipulations.

This is no longer the United States Of America but the United States of The Wealthy shaping their narrative to impress you, to direct you to vote for something or someone that could give a flying rats ass about your life, for their goal is more massive tax breaks for the very people who need it least, the billionaires!

Words sound good and direct you to a source of reliability, a person or an organization your can trust. You might as well hand your credit cards over to them for you have been scammed to believe in a false witness. Just ask yourself why would someone care about your vote which is meaningless. What they care about is getting one more sucker to believe in people that are taking your money as you give them your support.

The depth of words are shallow graves. How they form in a sentence can become deep explosive mines of greed that con you into believing a snake wearing a suit is offering you a truth.

Social media has one goal, to sell you products you don’t need and to sell advertising for those products you don’t want. By giving them information on your social media site you have opened the flood gates of ads tempting you to buy, buy and buy. What else is America made for but selling our souls to the ad man.

The goal of social media is to allow politician’s trolls to roam freely on their sites and to post a false narrative of what these men and women of integrity will do for you if you vote them into office. These politicians have the nerve to say the words ”for you” they work. That can’t be father from the truth. They pimp themselves out to the highest bidder and who can keep them in office to exploit and gain more payments for their double crossing the people that believed in them. Wake up, trust your inner intuition don’t be duped again by someone that promises you hope but can’t explain how he/she is going to do it. These politician use cliches to makeup their true character facade. They don’t give a damn about the people that elected them, they care for the wealthy that have used their slush funds to promote the politicians lies. If a politician can’t dig deeper under his words and express a positive truth you better believe that they have nothing under the hood but a Super Pac paying them.

When a politician states he or she is doing the peoples work you better believe that they are doing the work for the money men and women.

Your truth is in you, what you feel, think and expect from your own words and not the words from a shell of a politician that preaches togetherness but uses words viscously to tear the American people apart!

Listen to your inner voice, don’t assume truth comes from the wealthy’s propaganda machine. TV and radio just like social media are paid by the wealthy to incite behavioral patterns so we will clash amongst ourselves and they can keep stealing from our hard earned tax dollars with a continual decrease in the amount of taxes they have to pay. Gosh it must be hard on them hiding their money in off shore accounts. They are true Americans!

Think for yourself, your truth shouldn’t be built around someone else’s lies.

March 7, 2021

As one gets older we begin to think of our families and how they will remember us.

What will be your legacy of images created over 45 years of being a photographer?

Are your children interested in your images? Will you make a book of what you think is your best work?

Will a family member help you with words of praise?

When you have tens of thousands of images where do you begin the editing process to pick out what you believe are your best photography?

I will edit my images that I feel tell a story of my life, my travels through nature and city life. I will not just pick photos that have color but ones that have depth and express what I felt while I was creating those photographs.

I want my daughters to feel what I felt making my images. The connection with the landscape, the deeper connection with the people that allowed me to create their image because of my respect for them.

I want my family to feel in my images how photography was more than just a click of the shutter but a way of life for me.

Photography made me a better person and it taught me to respect nature and the beautiful people present before me.

With a camera in hand one has the ability to get into places one would never be able to enter.

Images express your personality but also your deep connection with people willing to allow you to make a picture of them.

If I am going to go to the trouble of editing my images I want to give my daughters a sense of the times their parents lived in. The Vietnam war was raging, the Iraq wars were destroying lives, protests were growing in numbers ramping up all over this country. 

People living in fear and when I got my draft notice in 1972 I fell to my knees. I was lucky, two weeks later I received another letter from President Nixon telling me not to report for my physical because he was withdrawing troops from Vietnam!

This drama focused my attention on college and began my passion to make images.

Some of my images will be abstract expressionism but I want my family to see all my image creations I attempted.

I am not done yet and once this pandemic gets under control I hope to express my inner world through photographs of the external world once again.

 

 

 

February 26, 2021

New Photography Blog

Simplicity of an image brings your vision to life. When you include a gluttony of details you run the risk of confusing the images unique purpose.

To much detail undermines your vision of beauty in this world. Overwhelming the viewers confusion of what is your focus in the image creation.

What was the photographer trying to say? It looks like a casserole of everything, even the kitchen sink.

If everything is a photograph waiting to be taken then where is the depth of a photographers personalized, inner viewpoint.

If all we have to do is snap photos of stuff as if that will entitle us to fame and fortune then you have another thing coming. Everything has the potential to be a good image if the photographer can examine the landscape and narrow his personal interest down to details and strong natural light.

A good photographer is not out in the world to snap images and move on, he is there to study the landscape seeking details that when put together in the camera frame will create a solid composition that intertwines with his personal vision by choosing a unique perspective. Without these contemplative necessities you have made a deception of a photographic insight, a cliche that you probable remember seeing in your past and now claim it as your own. It is a lot like wearing a suit that doesn’t fit you.

We have all seen the look alike imagery being copied by photographers that haven’t got a clue as to what they want to take pictures of. We all start out this way but as we mature as photographers we soon break away from the mass of redundancy and start to follow our own instincts in creating our personalized vision a viewpoint that has your intuitive signature.

We must have an inner purpose, an inner expression that will come when we look deeper into the external reality and begin to see man and nature as unique subjects beyond their physical presence, seeing them worthy of a photographer’s study.

Think of photography as creating your own personal story. As you grow into the your visual imperative you will find the subjects that enchant you, this is the external worlds way of moving you forward into a reality that fits your unique perspective, making you want to immerse yourself in the magnificence of mother nature but not allowing your inner intuition to take a back seat.

Because you feel nature as your saving grace a means to be yourself through your images as your voice expressing a personalized landscape through your inner ability to find subjects that reflect your character.

Your expectations of how easy photography is, is your first stumbling block. You need to slow down and really think about what inspires your inner being in order to find subjects that you can interact with on a personal level.

Open your eyes, see what is being presented in the scene before you. There is no use stalling and making excuses of why the scene didn’t fit your personality. Your first steps toward your photographic goals are the hardest. When I look back on my first attempts at photography I still get embarrassed! I was doing what I loved to do and I felt so important making my own personal images. It took patience as I finally felt the inner power of visualizing your image by looking and reading the words of the great photographers of the past and present.

Your first photo pics will be crude and if lucky you will see the potential in a few of the images and once that is the case you must return to the original scene if possible but this time not rushing through the beauty in nature, taking your time to just be present and insightful, looking deeply into the environment that now has you inthralled and you begin visualize a potential photograph, because you are there seeing the subject with new eyes.

By coming back to a scene over and over again enhances your perspective and opens the door to your unique sight through focused attention.

Now you can compose your image by eliminating details that would have interfered with the composition you were building and distract the viewer from seeing the beauty shown through your eyes.

It comes down to focused concentration allowing your subject to open up the details that will enhance the image that you are creating in your own personal way and not copying a cliche you saw in a magazine.

Seeing images of places you are going to travel too is a double edge sword. Yes, you want to get some ideas of places that have great potential to create your unique viewpoint but the negative side of seeing images of the place you are traveling to, is that you might find yourself copying those travel book images and lose sight of images you ignored but were actually in your realm of potential revelation. You never want to lower your unique perspective by narrowing your palate of potential subjects. If it so happens that a particular building or landscape is worth your efforts then go for it and use your intuition to find a perspective that is unique only to you.

 

February 2, 2021

Present In Our Pictures

When a photographer is present in his search for his own vision, his awareness of a possible subject is heightened for he sees amongst the details a vision of something powerful, an awareness that he is approaching a unique composition.

His inner ability to compose the scene without clutter, without overwhelming colors and details that take away from the image creation, and do not empower it.

Being aware of your surroundings, instinctively forming a vision of what you are seeking, revealing the necessary composition that will bring inner and outer exploration to a deeper beauty that your photographic eye sought.

What attracts us to photography? Could it be the instinctive hunter that is in us all. We seek to capture a scene, a person and we hunt both day and night for that special revelation that we can take home with us.

It is not all about taking a photo but seeing an image possibility first! A depiction of a vivid dream, a memory of a child’s excitement seeing for the first time a scene that opened his eyes to the beauty and truth of mother earth.

A photograph is a means of writing your own  personal, visual novel in one simple frame and all you have to do is have the patience to wait for that moment, for the light, seeing your unique composition forming and make your image.

A photographer has an intense need to see himself reflected in the images he creates. It is not ego but a desire to feel the scene and be part of it.

It is like discovering gold and then opening your mind to the possibilities of expression.

Photographers are immersed in the very idea of capturing something in their viewfinder. The necessity of taking away from a scene an image is power in the mind of the tourist photographer.  

This feeds his ego and any image no matter the content brings to the image taker a since of power over the external world. We are trapped physically in this reality but a photograph takes from the scene a conduit to self praise and awareness. A photograph conquers the infinite details overwhelming the person behind the camera, by reducing your visual sense to a fragment of the scene that caught your eye and the hunt is on for you to capture it not with your physical abilities but with your ability to reproduce a duplicate of the scene that caught your eye through the technology of the camera. This gives one a sense of power and control over his selective nature and doesn’t allow him to be intimated by over studying a scene that would tie up to much time to untangle for an image that reflected his inner being.

But because the majority of people take pictures as a means of enhancing memories they are not immersing themselves in the scene looking for that detail, that composition that reflects their inner artistic vision.

What you should be looking for is an expression of your inner self.

What is it that demands we take pictures of our lives as means to document ourselves, our family, our friends, our lifestyle, our reflections of exterior importance, we seek to become the external reflection in the cameras eye rather than becoming our inner truth through a unique purposeful vision of the reality we think is stable never changing.  It is anything but stable and is always changing and creating a means of exploring your inner world through an infinity of external expressions. 

 December 30, 2020

Language like pure intuition moves experience into the abstract away from the finality of grounded reality, this reality defies words.

Life begins with blood and the stillness of death for in birth we are condemned to die.
What supports us in our time here on earth? I believe it is photography and poetry. Others have their own personal revelations of the art they wish to explore and share.

I feel we are being numbed to the natural beauty that surrounds us and we are as photographers looking for details that skim along the surface of a scene and doesn’t do the landscape justice.

I think technology is a landslide covering us with an intellect unable to break free from it's conditioning and seeks simplicity of thoughts reflected in the careless photos being taken of redundant subjects.

If the photographers looked deeper into the scene they could have made a statement of its beauty and not a surface reflection of inconsistent details.

What are your mental sticking points, details that demand you create an image of? You do not want to be conditioned to repeat snap shots that have no interior and exterior purpose. Look inward to find what your interests are. Do not be lead down a path of spewing hate for other human beings because of your childhood conditioning. Open up to the world’s beauty and the beauty of all races living on the same planet. Photography is your conduit to a broader acceptance of your inner vision and the external subjects that can bring you deeper into the creation of great unique images. Let go of self doubt, your anger is toward your lack of empathy with the world.

The world is not a play field to be demeaned by callus actions.

Seek your vision your connection to everything around you that has been waiting for you to open your eyes, your personal truth expressed through your photographs.

Photography has become frozen tv dinners. Just put your dinner in the microwave and wait a few minutes and your done.

You see something in the scene that catches your eye but you don’t really know what you're looking for, the subject before you is
overwhelming your senses.

It is intimidating to just be present and wait for those moments of light without trying to copy an image you saw in a magazine and besides you are on a tight schedule so you just better start snapping pics of anything that looks pretty.

Cameras are already set to take the pictures for you without your thoughtful input.

We get conditioned as we grow up to perceive reality through the eyes of our parents and friends. But art is not seeing through another’s eyes, it is your responsibility to break free from the copycat imitations and create unique images that you found, studied and made.

We should not fear our individuality we should embrace it.

Photography steals from reality its continuity and an overall scene is reduced to a segment of the landscape, person, architecture, animals, street scene, violence, wars, climate, poverty, criminality, religion etc…

And because the camera captures external reality that surrounds us we see a stillness in the image but also a purpose, a reflection of your inner skills to make something in changing light.

History is a liars paradise for in our life path any words written down became truthful voices describing the times of our ancestors our grandfathers, grandmothers, mothers, fathers their lives were told through authors good or bad, newspapers, books, schools, preachers chasing a buck.

But we know now that this was a con game to divert the criminality of our elected officials, our police force, our military, our justice department, our land owners, our billionaires, our taking land from the indigenous tribes, the slavery of innocent human beings taken from their homes all in the name of the united states of injustice etc…

But now we have phone cameras, small cameras, big cameras, video cameras where everything is documented and the truth shines through.

Of course not, the rich’s propaganda machine is constantly spewing out misinformation in order to confuse the populace into believing that their lives are as they should be. Creating tension and anger toward different cultures, other human beings trapped in the same mess as all of us as the elevator of money goes up but never down to the people who need it the most!

Lets face it, the touch of money is addictive and in this addiction we lose our moral values and become addicts of exploitation.

If you listen to the fluff of false inaccuracies on the tv networks news these talking heads that give us only bits of truth to keep us placated by creating hateful cliches, the result is undermining our openness to accept all peoples instead of blaming others for our predicament when in this absurd reality of wealth the rich are the culprits of criminality, oligarchs that own the world! As we sit silent lumps on a log without the courage to stand for justice and not the stealing of our planet for profit over human beings.

We try to hide our lives in abstractions to extend our life in hopes of painless illusions of self worth. But we don’t look at ourselves through our own intuitive inner vision but we more often than not listen to outside voices deciding our future for us. This eliminates any chance that your true voice will be heard, your true vision seen through photography, writing, paintings, etc… all pushed aside so you are forced to live a life under the thumb of the powerful propaganda dictating to you where you belong and what your life will be.

You must attempt to over throw the disconnected life experiences in your earthly conditioning because that is the great barrier we must overcome if you want to become an individual with your own unique visual purpose.

What is photography to you? Is it a documentation of your life? A glorious means of expression? Is image creation an expression of self?

Photography for me has been a way of life. A destination of seeing nature and humanity in a new light.

Photography has a god like ability to stop time, freeze it in a frame that allows you to look back in time to see how your photographic instincts matured and your images got better and better.

Photography takes from our external world pieces of our reality and stills the rushing of our lives toward death!

If you find yourself taking pictures of certain subjects and ignoring other potential scenes you are in a narrow minded fear of change. Broaden your horizon seek your path within yourself and then look outward at the beauty you have missed.

We all have been there, tried something and failed and you give up, well that is defeat at its worst level. To let go of your potential for creating beautiful images is a sign of your ego worrying about what others say concerning your image creations. The question you must ask yourself is do you like them, your images, who cares what others say about your work all they are trying to do is confine your artistic talent because they are jealous of your unique vision.

We want our images to be liked for each image taken has the potential to become an iconic representation of a reality constantly shifting.

Image creation in the wrong hands can become a technological curse, a lessening of a photographers ability to make a living. Technology now can create subjects that look real but aren’t. These images are created on computers without a need of a camera.

We are entering a cursed future where any image can be manipulated or created to look like something else.

Lets face it professional photography is obsolete. It started with film being obsolete and then digital cameras became an easy access to beginners to create images that were passable to give to photo agencies and then camera phones sealed the deal, everyone is a photographer and are willing to accept pennies on the dollar just to see their photography on an agencies website.

When you think of the amount of images taken each minute, each hour, each day it blows your mind!

Photography used to be a love of your external world seen through your unique vision of subjects chosen.

There was nothing better than hiking miles into the forest and coming upon a waterfall that burst open your photographic talent.

Now photography is a tsunami of look alike subjects that have no meaning or purpose.

I have said this before but photography is only a commodity that has no other purpose than to make the big photo agencies money and the image creators get duped into believing their creations are worth only peanuts.

But now of course photo agencies are giving the photographers work away of free. What is it about people that they can’t see the greed of money rampant in the demise of the stock photo agencies once a friend of the photographers! Now a bully limiting any chance to make a living off our hard earned work.

The corporations have destroyed any chance of photographers making a living creating stock images and must look elsewhere for new avenues of income. But that will be hard to do since photography is no longer looked upon as an art form but now treated like day old bread.

The absolute bombardment of images taken,
undermining talented photographers to move away from their chosen field because who can compete against the tsunami of photos taken every second, a constant bombardment of redundancy, a narrow belief in ones talent.
 
Your efforts to create your unique vision is not a lost cause for your success is not an addiction to the run and gun image creations happening now, a standard means of ego’s wanting to be seen as prolific and then the manipulation of the image on the computer, but a determined vision to continue doing what you love to do expressing your inner vision of nature and humanity. Your individuality, your path of self realization exists in the photographs you make. Your unique perspective is yours and yours alone.

Yes, you will not be paid for your efforts as before but photography for you is a passion, a statement of expressive honesty, your documentation of poverty, wars, protests all needed to try and break through the wall of deceit by the 1%.

We all want to be liked for what we create. But that is not the only purpose driving the artist. An artist has to create something that represents his internal fight with the external reality governing our lives.

If we keep allowing the manipulation of our minds toward possessing material things then as a race we are lost in the corporate power of greed. We don’t need more stuff we need more empathy toward our fellow human beings!

 

 

 November 14, 2020

Ask yourself why you are interested in making photographs. And remember that now you are competing with billions of cheap images. So making a living at photography is going to get more complicated and harder to succeed.

As with all artistic expression preparation is the key to success. We must be present in ourselves ready to travel miles to feel the elation of knowing the scene you hunted is here, where you stand.

As the light shifts startling your senses you remain calm without nervous energy overwhelming you. You have begun the most important aspect of being a photographer finding that all-important instinctive perspective that will allow you to bring out of the
chaos of overwhelming details your vision of the landscape that is your own personal revelation.

Serendipity for the photographer is no lucky break, you knew the composition you fought to get and now as the light illuminates your subject you press the shutter.

Photography is choice, seeking a reflection of yourself in the image you are creating. Image creation is always a personal involvement with the subject wether it is a street image or a still life it is your perceptual insights into the scene that is present when your image made.

To create your unique imagery you need stamina and a single mindedness that focuses your attention not on the scene per se but on how you are relating to the scene. Are you involved in the image creation or are you in a run and gun mode whereby your mind is filled with many distractions all of which are interfering with your intuitive inner perceptions demanding you stop the rat race and be present before the scene evolving.

Relax, take a deep breath and just open yourself to see and feel the landscape you are in and begin to piece together why you choose this scene and then start the journey of self revelation, your inner interpretation of the scene externalized through your visual senses creating a unique photograph.

The seeds of intuition are already planted firmly in your minds senses. You are aware of your inner universe and you understand that to create great imagery you must see beyond the formalized structure of perception through your intellect and into a feeling of a bonding connection with your subject and a willingness to be part of the scene by immersing yourself into natures miracles. This way you have laid the groundwork for creating a personal unique perspective. For you have made a deep connection with the external physical reality without over thinking its distracting nature but allowing your instinctive personal vision to guide you to your composition.

Great photography doesn’t need to be taken but made.

Shift your senses to become sensitive to your inner projections. We have to free ourselves from the devilish propaganda that instills in us at an early age to be followers of someone else’s vision instead of our own unique expressions, which will lead us into a security of thoughts and actions that demand realization. We must seek our own efforts to become comfortable in our own skin with a plan of attack to crystalize our inner being as an external visionary force.

We must focus our inner energy to move beyond the structures that inhibit our lives and to follow instead our intuitive artistic truth.

When you come upon a potential image you take your backpack off and sit and really survey the scene before you.

Your vision is on the alert. You have entered a scene that is beginning to register something of importance happening, the scene is evolving. You senses are now on alert as you dissect the scene in front of you looking for that detail that will blossom as the anchor of your photographic landscape you are preparing to make, a coherent reflection of your inner insights becoming externalized.

Then your photographic eye senses something extraordinary developing in nature’s majestic light and  you will apply your unique perspective to find the visual patterns that will create an image with power and uniqueness worthy of your visual skills.

Good writers dig deep into the minds for their characters, photographers look deep into peoples characters to make an image that not only represents the person being photographed but also the visual uniqueness of your photographic personality.

Photographers are composers just like writers feeling their way through the beginnings of their composition.

Words can make the reader feel like they are present in the scene when the author is on his game and the words flow just like the photographer who is instinctively absorbed in what he is attempting and having the patience to be still as mother nature opens her visual creation, applauding the effort the photographer took to get his unique image by supplying the light needed.

Both photographer and writer need self discipline to make words ring true and the photographer needs photographs created everyday to sustain his unique perspective and let his inner awareness of himself ring true in his photographs. Both photographer and writer need concentration and courage to sustain their talented vision.

When a writer sits down to a blank piece of paper and begins to fill that page with ideas he relies heavily on his own experiences, his own history and unique environment to help him discover his self and his characters.

A writer needs details that enhance the visual words that will create characters and a story line. Writers research their subjects, the characters that are being realized through their intuitive insights.

A photographer comes upon an infinite array of details in a scene where the writer fills the emptiness of silence with ideas, his words. The photographer eliminates excess paraphernalia, omitting anything that doesn’t contribute to the whole feeling he is trying to express. His visual intuitive senses are in high gear seeking through the scene only those details that will enhance his visual story.

Photographers need to research their visual possibilities narrowing down the details that will eventually create the photograph that you perceived without a concrete realization unveiled.

When you first came upon the scene you didn’t have the necessary visual stimulus to look further into the landscape. Only when you began to eliminate subjects and details that intruded on your unique visual perspective did you see the landscape change and get smaller in your inner revelation focused discipline. Once you see what you want and what was needed the rest of your time is spent in patience waiting for the pristine light to envelope your field of vision and complete your inner feelings externalized through a great image.

The best photographs are the simplest, they state the photographers feelings in a clear and precise way.

It is easy in stock photography to think that anything photographed will sell. And that is true if you have the only shot of a history making event and were able to in split second raise your camera or cell phone and click the shutter. But the competition is so great nowadays, so many skilled amateur photographers that if you are a professional stock photographer then you better not turn in sub-par work. And even then you are losing ground because in truth everyone now has the ability and luck to be in the right place at the right time to create an image that will sell.

I used think that photography took something away from our reality. In a split second we captured a scene and grabbed from your visual perspective, your physical presence, an external witness to the constant flow of time where human beings feel left behind, abandoned until they create a personal image that their families will keep in a precious photo album or a gallery show of your unique perspective each representing another inner viewpoint one in which you feel compelled to make images of a subject hiding its true characteristics and the only way to uncover the mystery subject is to dig deep, studying the subject until little glimpse of possibilities form and you begin to understand the scene and as you wait for the light to illuminate parts of your hidden subject you begin the necessary camera checks to make sure everything is functioning properly.

Technology is more than just tools created to sell products it also hinders the evolution of good photography.

Photography has become an albatross around the necks of professional image creators for a couple of decades now, they have been overwhelmed with the new kids on the block that use gear that pretty much takes the image for them.

This new gear takes away the importance of image creativity. It is no longer about the subject and the revelation of insightful compositions. Now it is about shooting, shooting, shooting without a care in the world about any thoughtful connection with your subject.

Digital cameras broke down the barrier between real photography of the pros and substituted cameras that took the photograph for the photographer.

People now take images without fully grasping the importance of feelings, empathy, confusion, connection etc… all paving the way to demand from you as a serious photographer to stay put, don’t run around clicking away at anything and everything, take your time, quit this run and gun theatrics of importance and just be yourself and make image that called to you to be made.

Snap shots are a penny a dozen now, you must settle into the details the scene presents, study it, focus your attention of the colors, light, time of day, early morning, late sunset, take in all mother nature’s beauty being given to you whether it is people, places, animals, still life, you must stop running away from your subjects.

Immerse yourself in the landscape seek the right light to bring out the surface details and to illuminate the landscape with beautiful texture a unique gift to you from our external reality.

 

November 28, 2020

Is It To Late To Become A Photographer

Photographing an unusual subject has given me a new awareness of the freedom to do your own thing. With subjects rarely photographed you have a new playground to perform in. We must open our interior field of play
to the changing atmosphere of photography and be ready to photograph the weird, wild and unique.

We are separate from others external reality and what we choose to make images of is our own personal expressions.

The intent of your photographic vision is the most important aspect of your image creation. Why are you attracted to this particular subject, what is your intent.

When it comes to image creation you must be fully present, immersing yourself in the landscape, seeking your moment of visual revelation. 

Your unique purpose in photography is to be true to your inner preparation, your skill of knowing your self in relation to your subject and then creating a photograph that reveals your inner creativity externalized.

When we photograph in the abstract we leave little clues as to what we are making images of. Not to many clues but enough so a viewer of your image can piece together the absence of details, rebuilding the image, making the image into his own visual reality.

Taking a household product and reducing the object to an abstraction and seeing if anyone could recognize what the pieces of the puzzle are was very enlightening. 

When we reduce an object to limited details of recognition then the mind can’t form a coherent wholeness of your subject in its usual visual form, the clarity of subject matter, so our experiencing the photograph becomes a puzzle to solve.

For the object is no longer real in its physicalness to excite our intellect, the sense of visual understanding is missing.

When we look at an image abstraction, we need to let go of our preconceived ideas of what we are looking at, and try and piece together the puzzle before us without an anchor of normalcy.

Immediate impressions of images don’t have to follow a static formula of experience. Shake things up and look for details and compositions that will create for the viewer a new way of seeing an old boring, familiar subject, a cliche known immediately, by mixing things up in a unique visual way through a composition and exposure that attracts the viewer to really look at your image with a more intuitive vision rather than the dullness of one more copycat image creation.

Photographers must break free from the cliche’s of copycat photography and build their own personal image portfolio of unique personal photographs.

By creating a new arena of abstract photographs you entice the viewer to enter your visual imagination.

The intuitive force of perception, finding a piece of the puzzle which breaks open your unique visual excitement from the dull reinforced commonality of societies fear of being themselves and not pawns to narrow mindedness of imitating what other's have created.

In photography is there anything new being done when it comes to innovation and artistic talent?

We can’t all be Jackson Pollock creating a new vision of experimentation and expressing his unique vision and being able to demand the attention of the entire world.

Photography is now a limiting artistic expression. We can’t reinvent the wheel and create through talent alone a new vision for the masses to believe in. And lets face it follow they will. 

Life is corrupt in every sense of the word. Cheaters, healers, fantastic liars, incomprehensible mutterings of madmen and the writings of of poets without substance.

Photography is now a means to copy and exploit. It is photoshop and dull lights of a lessened imagination. 

Our utensils for eating haven't changed in the sense of a quick exposure and then move on. Everyone can look through the viewer and press a shutter and take an image. 

But that certainly doesn't mean the image will be a reflection of intent to create something personal worth studying.

What does photography lack now that makes images seem so redundant?

The fact of the matter is photography was never redundant in the early years of photography, it was a mind altering experience, a means of seeing the world as it was through the individual photographers ability to be present in the right moments to express the people's lives through great imagery.

These photographers created iconic images that made people see the truth and falsehood behind the glory and sorrow of America and a lot of it wasn’t pretty.

The poverty of millions of people, wars brutal depravity, hunger a means of exterminating other cultures, people living in lies, people living in extravagance as people slept out on the streets,  all were explored by these creative photographers that saw the importance of imagery as truth.

Now in America we never see in our shallow news reporting anything to do with the continuation of violence and oppression of people all over this planet. But we do see ads demanding we buy these products for our own personal gluttony.

For our own awareness we must seek information that brings us truth not surface news with no depth, as the early photographers did, they awakened our controlled, mindless existence by the corrupt governments and oligarchs around the world, to force us to see beyond the words and begin to find our truth by opening our minds to new sources of information not from the models mouthing nonsense on news shows that give us nothing but surface glitter without substance, distractions, undermining our knowledge of what this country has become.

These bought politicians owned by the wealthy make laws that exploit the people and make the wealthy's off shore accounts bulge with our hard earned money. 

The illegal money these criminals take from taxpayers should go into rebuilding our infrastructure, long overdue, but the oligarchs don’t care about the people and their suffering for they have parties to attend and their egos want to show off their diamond and gold robberies. It has always been this way. Power and fear are synonymous with mind control.

Through the centuries these brave men and women photographers have seen life’s ugly mess and have decided this abomination of cruelty must be seen and heard by all humanity.

These photographers went out and showed the world what was truly happening around this planet and the cruelty of life people lived every day of their lives.

Theses iconic images made us stop and think about the cruelty of wealth and we began to make changes that opened the door for awareness of other cultures poverty and we opened America to them to enter our country without fear and hate that was eating away their lives under dictators.

The changes in photography are mostly technology driven making it easier for anyone to pick up a camera and make a decent photograph without having to think. We call that kind of image shooting snapshots. These images have no depth of character but are just surface reflections of ones limited inner vision.

And the majority of these images are made by deliberately copying someone else’s original work.

Human beings are a herd species, what is good for one is good for all and in photography taking pics in a split second is the new norm for creative expression.

Run and gun photography and then quickly post it to your blog and you are a hero of what?

We are cattle following the bull down a road of stereotypes, dependency and betrayal of your own inner originality. 

The primordial instinct of survival is our addiction to be seen and heard for we all want to be noticed even if it is an embarrassing moment but you can believe someone took your photo and it is being downloaded right now and seen by by thousands!

Picture taking is now being turned into a billion dollar social media extravaganza,
for we the people give our images to them for free!

Where does one begin to find subjects worthy of your intensity to create your inner perception? Everything is possible when your intuition begins to formulate a plan to explore the world with new eyes, open to the possibilities of expressing our visual connections of the outer world with your inner visualization of your unique originality seeing deeply the expressions of your inner being expressed through photography.

When we see fake news broadcast on the airways we assume that the truth is being told. We are gullible in the insistence that their words are our truth when in fact they are repeating words known to satisfy the disinterested spirits exhausted from the daily grind of frustration, low pay, racism, forced to make choices that are not ours but someone else’s. Since childhood we have been conditioned to repeat words that became ideas and then became traps that most of us got caught up in.

To express your own choice, your own purpose, your true character in all it’s uniqueness is to just open your front door to the world anew and let go of your prejudices and be true to all the glory of mother nature that surrounds you.

There is a new visual world of exciting original imagery awaiting photographers with purpose for those opportunities that can immerse you in your photographic project, harken back to the days of openness and visual awareness of what was happening to our world slowly being controlled by the elites of criminality.

Your imagery is not a facade built around ads that want you to follow the herded cattle to shop and buy their products for their profit not yours.

This overwhelming distribution of faceless consumerism, this instinctive drive through decades of exploiting the populace to ignore their own uniqueness of choice and to follow the ads domineering enticement to be someone else when you buy their product, is manipulation of your mind to choose an exterior purpose instead of your interior purpose of inner revelation and your own individual perceptions that can be made into photographs.

In creating photographs with purpose you must release your burden of the exterior reality pulling and scaring you into a submissive role of follow the leaders. These leaders do not have your interests at heart, they have money emanating from every pore on their body, it is greed and power that they are addicted to and not your unique perspective. Conformity to worthless lies is the new dawn of our confined future obeying the oligarch demands and not our own.

 

 

November 23, 2020

New Photography Blog

We are in a hectic world running around in fear and anger as our lives get more complicated. We are being attacked by the covid19 virus that will bring us to our knees if we don’t follow the plan of safety before gathering with others in a party atmosphere!

We make images of importance to us and the viewer when we are faithful in our witness to the beauty of life.

Photography’s purpose is capturing a moment in the fluidity of time. Humans need the stability of external
subjects to be stagnate not fleeting moments of our lives. This gives us a sense of power over the illusion of reality we experience everyday.

Humans need control over the forces of nature to feel empowerment over mother earth. Our gaps in life are made true when we capture a moment of beauty, anger, wars, poverty, portraits, nature, industry, travel, people… that shows our being present and involved in our unique space and time.

Life is transitory always changing and to be able to capture a good image you must be present in your ability to uncover the composition that best fits your visual consciousness, your visual experience being present in the scene.

You have entered another realm of being when you immerse yourself into becoming more than just a tourist snapping pics and then moving on.

You must have a connection with your subject in order to create a composition that is real and true to your visual talents.

By being present you absorb the beauty that surrounds you and you put it securely in the camera’s memory card as a witness to your visual perspective. The camera is your link to experiencing the external world without a need to race through your life and miss the important moments of truth connected with your unique style and nature’s willingness to share with you these precious moments.

In photography when we are intensely present in our moments without our mind wondering, over thinking these present moments we enter a new dimension. Once a connection is made you begin to see with open eyes the potential of the scene before you.

The world has always been in chaos but our job as a photographer is to find moments of form that will allow the viewer to see into your unique vision, your expressive character and your determination to make an image worthy of your talent.

Photographers can stabilize their angered perceptions of a reality built around money. Money is only a tool but for some it is an addiction. Instead of worshiping a god we have replaced god with the worship of cash as our means to a physical paradise.

This greed for power is an illusion of grandeur and it undermines the natural flow of living a life that is intuitively connected around your love of creating photographs.

To see external reality not as means to power but a means to create images that inspires our youth to follow their hearts and intuition and not be sidetracked by envy, for your power is in your focused attention on your subject and the composition beginning to form.

When we come upon a scene that has potential to be
a good image we must pause and take in the entire landscape searching for the right elements of composition to inspire us to formulate in our photographic eye details that will become the foundation of the forthcoming image.

As photographers we are detail oriented, we make judgements based on our intuitive recognition of
a scene that has potential.

Photographers must clear their minds of cliches and copy cat images seen in travel magazines. We must focus our attention on our own inner composition and express it through the layers of possibilities present in the external world.

As we approach a scene worthy of our photographic efforts we begin to feel a complexity of choices we are reacting to because our senses are getting hyper aware of the possibilities just beginning to surface.  

There are times when you enter a scene and you have already sensed where you want to be and what lens best fits your inner visual composition.

Your years of experience allow you to dissect a scene quickly and know exactly what you want to express.
 
This comes from years of experience and understanding your inner selective vision and the purpose being given you through mother natures infinite expressions of beauty.

Photography is a symbol of your visual perspective, if it is less defined then your subject will communicate to viewers weakly as if the photographer just snapped a shot and moved on without a focused purpose in the composition and exposure.

What do you look for in a scene when you find a potential image to be created? Is it drama, emotion,
action, a person or is it a potential unique composition and the strong play of light and dark contrast in the scene made by mother nature that excites your visual stimulus.

Image creation is always through your unique inner vision!
 
Any place you choose to make pictures of has the potential for you to create a classic image.

Beauty isn’t in the eye of the beholder but in the eye of a photographer!

You need to develop a deep core relationship with nature. Let nature express its beauty to you and be sensitive, patient and aware of damaging nature through careless disregard for the beauty deposited in front of you.

The more you spend time in nature, the more respect you will have for mother earth and the beauty reflected in your choices that will create a composition that will draw attention to your unique vision.

Your talent is blending your personal vision with your choice of subject matter.

Don’t settle for the average stock photo, really look deep into the scene and make images through finding the perfect angle possible that gives the viewer something unique to appreciate, a new better perspective of an iconic scene.  

Always be looking for the moment of awe when your determination to find and compose your image is a personal revelation of your unique vision.

 

 November 15, 2020

 

The Abandonment Of The RM Photographer
 

Great photography is intense immersion into the interior or exterior scene with a rush of adrenaline that opens your eyes to the possibilities present, which one you choose is up to your emotions on that particular day, your self-awareness and a deep connection with the emerging subject finally showing parts of itself, details opening, becoming possibilities as mother nature helps you with your visual creations.

Once we entered the digital era of taking photos not making photos then the photography universe broke apart. The ease of use of these digital cameras, auto exposure, built in filters, auto focus in the camera bodies allowed everyone the potential of making a good image. To take images and get good results was now only a lucky accident away but soon with a little practice the making of great images was possible.

But this new automated technology undermined the professional photographers way of life by cheapening the cost of taking images for now instead of sending your film to a lab to have processed all you needed to do was dump your memory card onto your laptop and edit and submit to whoever was interested. It doesn’t matter in today’s climate of over saturated image creation whether you are a professional or an amateur, it is the image that counts and really always has been that way.

And what photo agency you are with, Rights Managed or Royalty Free either way your sales are diminishing yearly as I write this for with the overwhelming amount of images being taken and uploaded to stock selling sites the buyers have basically an infinite amount of choices to choose from and all the choices are being sold for pennies on the dollar.

What a great return to the photographers working hard to spend money traveling and making images that reflect their inner nature to see one of their images being sold for peanuts.

And let’s face it Rights Managed image creations are over and done with. Why would anyone want to send in RM imagery when no buyer will even look at them? Getty Images my agent for decades has eliminated RM imagery from its photo site and like all the other big Photo Agencies goes strictly with RF.

With so many images uploaded around the world every second how can a photographer earn a living from his craft. You can’t and you won’t, those days are gone forever.

Those billions of new photographers out there just snapping away and through luck and timing creating images that could compete with the old school professional photographer is the culprit for the evaporation of any worthy sales.

Once this explosion of image snap shots grew exponentially the professional photographer was an old relic of the past era when artists felt their talents in connecting with the deep internal revelations of purpose seeking more than just an image but a masterpiece by creating something from their inner intuitive force, by seeking images that others couldn’t take and these photographers roamed the world in making images of unbelievable beauty no matter what the cost to them mentally and physically.

When film became obsolete you no longer had to worry about processing costs it changed photography forever now everything is done in camera with memory cards and then uploaded to computers and then submitted. Now everyone is a potential photographer and this undercuts the professional photographers ability to make a living by selling his images to news papers, magazines, art galleries, etc., and submitting these classic images to the photographer’s photo agencies.

Back in the day all agencies were rights managed and usage of their photographers  images was regulated and sold for a specific purpose and priced accordingly, the photographer received 50% of the sale. Then came Royalty Free and this undermined the chances for a RM photographer to make a living created images. 

Now everyone is a photographer and the billions and billions of images taken hourly, daily, monthly overwhelms the senses of the viewer and photography is seen not as an art form anymore but a product like lettuce, a hobby, a means to take images of your life and post them on social media to get likes and to be seen by others!

And also why not send my images to a photo-agency they are paying me pennies on the dollar but it feels good to get my image bought for peanuts.

By allowing your images to be reduced to cheap products on sale at grocery store prices you have undermined the natural flow of reasonable pricing and allowed the buyers to dictate to the photo agency the price they demand no matter how hard you fought to create the image you are now at the mercy of the buyer and the photo agency that makes their money on volume pricing that creates a billboard ad of look at our lower valued pricing and this they claim is a new model, a win win situation for the agency and the photographer bull shit!

This will demean the image and the photographer’s talent by accepting anyone calling themselves a shooter and any image they submit that is almost in focus and has detail in some shadows areas and highlight areas and this is the new outlook of what photography is becoming. It no longer is an art form with intense purpose through the image creator efforts to make the image but now anything goes as long as the agencies
can take advantage of the new photographers and at the same time say bye bye to the old guard of image creators that know that stock photo business is now a dollar store bonanza of selling peoples lives away by pricing photographs for peanuts.

Who cares about the aging photographers that made their livelihood through creating beautiful landscapes, portraits, underwater images, mountain climbing and more. 

There is no honesty and integrity now in photography, a once creative art form!

In the past your goal of image creation could be a slow process with your subject revealing itself to you in parcels as you get more familiar with the details becoming realized and the scene begins to dictate to you your inner vision its possibilities, at this stage the photographer doesn’t push his intuition toward any detail but allows his consciousness to let go of his narrow thoughts and just flow with the landscape before you until you have that fluidity of sight and reflection that allows you to see beyond the details of the physical space before you and opens your vision to encompass the reflection in your mind of a unique presentation of nature no one else has made. Your visual foundation is special and only you can see through the infinite details of a scene to create your inner cohesive image vocabulary.

In order to become your truth, your purpose you must merge with your individual self and not the socialites commonality of the herd instincts. Don’t be fooled into following the crowd, that is a dead end, your photographic vision is to understand the complexity of your physical nature present fighting in a vacuum of mental conformity unwilling to free themselves from the tyranny of fear, accepting their narrow vision as the truth unable to break free from the easy manipulation of redundant behavior and false gods.

These milestones of seeing beyond the surface glitter and not to be duped into ignoring the plain details that when composed properly succeeds with a new vision and better still a vision that you have recognized and explored with full understanding and precision once the scene presented itself from the clutter of details trying to misguide you to their commonality.

There are times when you find that your one subject is immersed in the infinity of details and it begins to hinder your ability to relax and go with the flow of your selected, potential scene. You are present but stifled and you need to just step back and allow the scene to formulate a new series of details that intrigue your artistic talents and by relaxing and letting the scene settle itself in your eyes you begin to unravel your frustrations and begin to see the composition that will become your inner vision externalized.

Your new found subject suddenly opens your emotions and gives you a necessary foundation of details, light and composition that will compliment your patience by capturing this unique landscape.

Photography even in a crowd is an isolating journey.  Each of us have our own path to take. The question you must asked yourself is do you have enough self-awareness to free yourself from the bonds of the addicting cliche, societies need for redundant snap shots without depth or persuasion, all of us meek sheep without a unique voice.  

With the explosive conformity of images created for social media overwhelming our senses, reducing photography to a cliche without purpose, just ego’s trying to be seen but what good photographers need to do is just keep on trucking creating images that mean something more than pennies on the dollar.

November 7, 2020

 

Photography Is Your Bridge To Inner Awareness

A good image is like finding a needle in a hay stack. You can hike for hours and still in that time not find an image you feel is with shooting.

Eventually with perseverance you will finally see the light opening your visual inner door and the composition you were looking for in its natural beauty has been waiting for you to finally see.

You were determined to find images that represented your interior insight to mother nature. In order to create great imagery you must immerse yourself in nature with respect and awe!

Your image must not be over manipulated, that will ruin the natural beauty we all need to be part of.   

The captivity of elusive imagery, your number one goal, the abrupt tiredness when hunting that perfect landscape in beautiful light.  

There are many barriers to creating great images but you must steel yourself to endure the ups and downs, the frustrations and blown exposures and keep hunting for those perfect moments.

Whether it is sports, people, abstract expressions of inner consciousness and mother nature you must let go of the conditioned response to external vision. You must seek through your own eyes the beauty you feel present in and not a past image scene in a photo book that you want to imitate.  

Light is never stagnant it is constantly chaining and you must always follow the light in your unique vision to capture the essence of your inner world externalized.

What does authenticity mean in todays image creations? Really nothing at all with all the copycat landscapes being photographed, we have given up on seeking an original, personal image and now click and run to the next subject to exploit without showing our own unique perspective.

You must feel the excitement of discovery when you enter a scene and feel that this place is calling you to just be present and wait as the light changes in infinite directions, to the small details, to overwhelming magnificent landscapes and your subjects move forward with potential then retreat as you narrow down the details being given you through earth’s natural beauty and your sense of what is important to your inner artistic vision.

It can be overwhelming to begin recognizing your own inner world of perceptions. Seeing for the first time subjects that mean more than just snap shots but a representation of your passion, a revelation of your wholeness of reality, inner and outer coalescing into a visual image of perfection.

To be present in vision and deep awareness of your surroundings is a gift given to all but most don’t listen to their intuitive inner voice that would allow them to perceive the outer beauty inside themselves.

We are corralled in our human skin to follow the leader don’t rock the boat do what you are told keep your head down and don’t make waves all these ways of defining you done to control your restless visions to remain stagnate in your own revelation of yourself in time.

The culprit in your narrow beliefs, your narrow vision and hate of change is your intellect that wants everyone to be on the same page doing the same repetitive actions over and over again without the freedom of thought and freedom of expression.

Our system of power has always been to keep the population under strict ways of feeling and seeing this paradise called earth. And controlling your mind, your thoughts was the easiest way to keep ones vision under the rule of strict repetitive dullness, make a living so others will profit, to keep one from experiencing the joy of freedom of your internal senses becoming alive and aware of the external worlds potential of energized caring about others and your own expressions of your inner world whether it is through a lens now open to all nature’s beauty and ugliness or in painting, writing and speaking your own unique truth.

Release your mental stereotypes you have been conditioned to believe in, think about your unique eyesight opening up to the explosion of details, light, composition, your inner instincts quickly become alert to the changing light and as the landscape reveals itself, you anticipate the composition that will bring your connection with the external world to a new visual exclamation of this paradise we live in.